I urge everyone to go view it.
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September 29th, 2006 at 9:36 am
If anyone with a TV and DVD player would like to host a screening near 10001 zip code, please let me know. I have the DVD and would be glad to share it.
Email me at nesspa43@yahoo.com.
September 30th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Im very sad right now,very sad. I watched the clips you provided and the remix made for youtube by “The General”. Ive looked over the blog comments and subjects and in all of this Ive looked to see understanding, consideration and reconcilliation. I haven’t seen it thats why Im sad. So So much works to tear us apart, put every american on a “side”. Why? This is a big fucking country, we have a wide range of veiws.
Let’s try this on for size:
- Liberals are more aware of the world, smarter and just understand issues better than lesser minded folk who just can’t seem to.
- Conservatives are more spiritual, patriotic, love “their” country and generaly work harder.
I say if you buy either side of this bullshit argument your a short sighted a-hole.
I will try to locate and view this movie but I fear that it has ended up as another exercise in see how simple minded and racist these folk are. I trulllllly hope not. You have a very special opportunity to bring together our fractured nation, or at very least start the process. Don’t waste it.
Thank you, good luck and be well.
Steve from NYC
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:04 pm
I just watched that clip of Dennis Mansfield, founder of the defunct Idaho Family Forum, and I have to tell you that most people here in Idaho consider this guy a bullshit artist. He has failed to get elected several times, he hoisted his son up before the media when the kid was busted for possession in an attempt to save his political neck, and he left Idaho only to return because he failed again. When I hear “red state”/”blue state” all I hear is noise from people who are to damn lazy to examine the issues or the landscape.
Idaho is a conservative state, but it has a deeply rooted vain of independence. The first state to elect a Jewish governor, the home of liberal Senator Frank Church and Democratic Gov/Interior Sec. of Interior, Cecil Andrus. Idaho activists beat back anti-gay amendments twice, and elected the first openly gay state lawmaker while other states fell victim to the Rove game. Granted, an anti-marriage amendment may pass a third time - but not without a fight.
Defining an entire region as “red” or “blue” is doing a disservice to people who live and work for human rights in those areas. What about so-called “blue states” that have Sen. Sentorum, or Gov. Romney? That “red state” label defines people who rarely venture far beyond Dupont Circle or 9th Avenue. It feeds a stereotype that does more harm than good.
But then again, what the fuck do I know - I live in Idaho. Right?
October 4th, 2006 at 1:31 am
Buddy, the use of the term “Red State” is metaphorical. Of course the “red state”/”blue state” trope is shallow and limited. It is also descriptive of a certain mindset. It is this mindset that is presently in power in this country and thus, to me at least, worthy of heightened attention. Perhaps not to you. At any rate, I meant no disrespect to peoples of a “blue” persuasion who happen to reside in “red” areas. (oops, I did it again.)
As for your general theme that my work is lazy and shallow I take that for what it is worth. You may indeed be able to speak for “most people here in Idaho”.
But then again, what the fuck do you know. You haven’t seen the film.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Hey Michel,
I think what Buddy is trying to say is that it is already an uphill battle politically but when we are working our asses off to turn things around and our own continue to use the black & white labels (blue/red) when there are all kinds of shades of gray, it makes our job harder to turn perceptions and issues around. It does start to feel invalidating and dismissive after awhile.
I personally have used the Red state Blue state analogy many times but I do make an effort to qualify that so that the hard work us blues are doing in red states is recognized. After all, we are in the frontlines of the fight to take our country back!!! It is much easier to be a liberal in a liberal state, that is where I got very complacent, preaching to the choir. Moving to Boise from So CA 8 years ago really shook my reality cage and re-energized me to become more active in the process. I am looking forward to seeing the movie!
October 4th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Thanks, Danya. As I stated above, I meant no disrespect to anyone and I think anyone watching the film will see that. All I ask is that people pay me the respect of watching the film before commenting.
Then they can rip it all they want.
My friend, Jeff Abrams, has started a community radio station in Boise. If you aren’t familiar with it yet you can check it out here:
http://www.radioboise.org/
October 4th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
For a film maker, you seem rather thin skinned to commentary. Are you in the right field?
October 4th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Michael,
I’d like to say I enjoyed your movie but every time I watch it I feel as frustrated as you did during your ‘rants’ toward the end of the film. So I guess I should say I appreciate.. no, I like it. I like the photography - the natural beauty of this land, I like the musical score and I like your civil and respectful approach to the residents of our country. I’m 58 years old. That makes me a product of the upheavals our nation experienced during the 60’s(yeah I got gassed in DC.) As a poly-sci major I feel this film should be viewed and discussed in both philosophy as well as government classes - high school and college. It is quite a stimulant for self examination as to one’s mindset as you put it. I know I will be showing it to my friends as well as to those I wish to influence politically. I don’t see it as tearing us apart or making the ’struggle’ more difficult. Hell, most people out here don’t even know this IS a struggle. Outside of the realities of their day to day life most people could give a shit, thus the mess this country is really in. Thank you for the movie!
October 8th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Michael,
have you heard of Grigori Gongadze? He was a son-of-a-bitch journalist who got his head cut off (never found) and his body dumped, (found) in a wooded spot outside town because he figured he was smart enough to detail - and people were ready enough to listen to - the depth of corruption of the democratically-elected President here. That was five years ago. People are forgetting already. Friends suggest that this is the inevitable result of a hard-won survival mechanism. They dump enough purges and pogroms and Chernobyls on your head and the best thing to do is just figure a way to live through it, and then forget. And God save the one who attempts to open the dialogue or document the abuse.
But what about a place where all that shit is not supposed to happen?
Rant on, my friend. If all you accomplish is to make us stop - even for a minute - and think, you do a good thing and advance the species.
Praying for your head.
November 19th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Michael,
I am writing because you seem to care enough to ask the tough questions, and I would like to, as you say, greet you with conversation:
You are right to take a road trip to answer your questions about what is going on in American society…because it’s a long road back to the reality, I gather, you have witnessed. I mean, it is easy to be critical of people who are struggling and yet have as firm a grasp on the realities of this country’s hard-earned liberty, as they do their own bootstraps. Perhaps they’re just struggling. None the less, if they are the ones in touch (with the bricks-and-mortar world), you should be asking yourself and your fellows: Where does that leave me/us? You see, there is a correlation between ones distance from common experiences and ones distance from common sense. These are the people in the trenches. You, have essentially gone into the trenches to see what they see. The question that we in the trenches have of you, is: Have you come with an open mind (to say nothing of genuine compassion), or only to fuel your own crusade? You see, if your only intention is to step on those in the way of you getting what you want, then it is you who have become the problem.
Is it any wonder that those who have risen above the trench-level, should be baffled by what goes on in the bowels of the American machine? Be honest, have you not been thinking that they (the red states people) are all somehow beneath you? Certainly, it would be wrong for those whom only drink of the milk of our prosperity, to blame the milkers for the dilemma caused by their own disconnect position. I would hope that, like an inner city child on a fieldtrip to a farm, you have not decided that the answer is to sell the farm — but rather, to return and tell the others –to relax, that we need each other; that, in fact, you have learned that the one cannot exist without the other — and that to try and separate the two, would shut off the spigot from which you drink! Can music and the liberal arts exist alone? Do you not know that the one is the product of the other!
The one truth that you (we all) would do well to begin with, is that we all are where we are –because of those who went before us. Be grateful for those who made it possible for you to do what you do. Do you not understand that those in the red states, are bringing forth the next generation of your own kind? Did you learn (I hope) that their strife is the very thing that allows you to thrive? Honor them. Respect them, as with your elders, because only with their blessing — are you going anywhere!
And, do go far, drink up — or we shall have milked the cows –for nothing!
P.S. Micheal, thanks for your reply!
November 22nd, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Here is my response to the youtube lynching video:
Most lynchings occurred in and around the large industrial centers…the places where job competition among blacks and whites reached its peak. And it happened during the late 1920’s in places like NYC and Chicago…not the during ’50’s or in the agricultural South. The 20’s mark the era of lynchings…the 50’s and 60’s mark the era of extremist judicial activism and also the violent domestic terror campaign of The Weather Underground.
Where’s the author’s source regarding lynching statistics? He just assumes we’re supposed to rely upon a system of common knowledge fabricated by the radical reconstructionists still operating to this day. This system of knowledge that says the South is more racist and more lynch-prone is simply a cultural myth, like religion. It was created to control, dominate, and exploit the resources (military) of the red states.
Lynchings occurred during the Great Depression and in the industrial Northeast, and the disproportionately fewer in number that actually did happened in the South are the only ones ever mentioned by the dominate media forces. Ask yourself…who controlled the record-keeping processes? …who controlled the media…the banks…the police…the law…the entirety of the federal government? The same folks who won the Civil War. It is and always has been those people who tell you what you to believe. It’s all a radical propaganda machine operating via newspeak with the aim of economic exploitation of the red states. Why do so many accept on blind faith everything that is spoon-fed them with regard to American culture?
November 22nd, 2006 at 5:23 pm
“not the during ’50’s” should read “not during ’50’s”
thanx
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:18 am
Michael, saw Buddy’s comment and felt the need to reply. Buddy didn’t get it ALL correct. he missed the part about my son becoming addicted to heroin and then going to jail and then into prison. He also seemd to miss the part about my reaching out to liberals like Andy hedden-Nicely to better know them as people…and then being surprised by the joy of becoiming great friends.
Look, enough of the personal attacks. People disagree, so what? What’s the need in folks to try to kill, steal and destroy?
I don’t know Buddy; I’d like to meet him/her one day. My email is easy: Dennis@DennisMansfield.com
Come, let us have coffee and talk,
Dennis
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:45 pm
I admire your response, Dennis. I should have been a little less clever and a little more earnest.
November 24th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
And another thing…
What makes the red states red? Poverty. Why? The Civil War.
What makes the red states red? Religion Why? Liberation Theology is a political weapon used as a result of the aftermath of the Civil War.
Why the Civil War? The red states were trading agricultural for manufactured goods at far more competitive prices with Europe than New England. New England industrialists sent troops into the red states to liberate gold, not blacks.
The rest is oligarchical collectivism (see newspeak).
November 24th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Something interesting I just noticed about the three lynching photos at the end of the General’s youtube video. None of the lynchings happened in the South. Here are my sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Duluth-lynching-postcard.jpg
Duluth, Minnesota 1920
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram_Smith
Marion, Indiana 1930
http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/images/event_omaha_courthouse_lynching.jpg
Omaha, Nebraska 1919
November 25th, 2006 at 12:11 am
Hey, Ryan. If you wish to comment directly with the person responsible for the “General’s” youtube I suggest you visit his website.
December 7th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Here’s my video response to the General’s video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHoWq2LmnBE